Hicks Holds Troy in Extras, Compton's Squeeze Bunt Lands Win

Contact: Matt Hebert

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LAFAYETTE – The Ragin' Cajuns baseball team had to wait a few extra innings, but a string of five consecutive Friday night losses came to an end with a 9-8 victory over Troy in 11 innings at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field in the opening game of a Sun Belt Conference series.

Matt Hicks tossed 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief after the Trojans plated five runs in the top of the ninth inning off of Cord Cockrell and Caleb Kellogg to erase an 8-3 deficit. Then in the 11^th inning, Chase Compton led off with a double, was sacrificed to third base by Tyler Girouard and scored the winning run on a Tyler Frederick squeeze bunt.

Louisiana (21-23, 9-13 Sun Belt) now carries a four-game win streak in Saturday contests into the middle game of the series tomorrow at 6 p.m. The game is being televised live on the Sun Belt Network and can be viewed on CSS and CST (check local listings).

If the Saturday streak continues, the Cajuns would land a key series victory over Troy (20-26, 8-14 Sun Belt).

With Friday night's win the Ragin' Cajuns, who entered the game tied for ninth with the Trojans in the Sun Belt standings, pulled one game ahead of them and into a three-way tie with La.-Monroe and Western Kentucky for seventh place. UL owns the head-to-head tiebreakers with ULM and WKU.

UL grabbed a quick 4-0 lead by scoring runs in each of the first three innings off of Troy starting pitcher Tyler Ray. The Trojans climbed back into the contest on a three-run home run by Danny Collins in the sixth inning, ending a string of 5 2/3 scoreless innings pitched by Jordan Nicholson.

UL responded with a three-run inning in the bottom of the sixth, getting runs on a Chris Sinclair solo home run, Dylan Butler RBI ground out and a passed ball charged to Troy catcher Brandon Brown.

An additional run was tacked on in the seventh inning, upping the lead to 8-3, when Jordan Bourque and Frederick executed a double steal and Bourque was able to score when Brown's throw to second base sailed into center field.

Cockrell started the Trojans' half of the seventh inning and then proceeded to retire the first six batters he faced through the eighth inning.

It appeared that the Cajuns' would coast to the victory and the bullpen, which entered the series with 18 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings in Sun Belt play at “The Tigue”, would continue its dominance at home.

The Trojans turned the tables, though, as back-to-back home runs from Collins and Tyler Hannah began the ninth inning. Then three free passes given to the Trojans – walks issued by Kellogg – put the wheels in motion for three more runs, the final two coming on a Boone Shear bases-loaded RBI single after an intentional walk, which forced extra innings.

“We let the game get away from us, but I thought I hitters did a great job today throughout the whole ballgame,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “We were able to turn the game back around and get this one under our belt. We expended some arms getting it done, but at least we got it done.”

Compton led the Cajuns with three base hits, two going for extra bases (third inning triple, 11^th inning double). Louisiana finished with 11 base hits, reaching double figures for the seventh time in the past nine outings.

Collins led the Trojans in hits (three) and RBI (four) on the strength of landing two home runs.

Nicholson, who left in the seventh inning in line for his first victory since March 16, was left to settle for a no-decision after the Trojans rallied in the ninth inning.

“Jordan did a great job tonight. They cut him in one inning, but that was it,” Robichaux mentioned. ”I like where our hitters are at this point. We just need to be able to close the back end of games now. Early in the year it didn't matter because we were behind the whole game, but now we aren't. We have to get that turned around, and turned around quickly.”

Ray, undefeated in 2011 at 12-0, avoided his sixth loss of the season thanks to his teammates uprising in the ninth inning. He was touched for six runs (all earned) off of eight Cajuns hits in 5 1/3 innings. Reliever Austin Thomas, who pitched perfect baseball in the ninth and 10^th inning, took the loss after yielding the Compton double in the 11^th which led to the decisive tally.

The Cajuns, who lost the 2011 series finale in Troy, continued the trend of never dropping back-to-back games to the Trojans in the all-time series. Twice before UL has followed up a Troy victory with three consecutive victories.

The Cajuns started the string of three consecutive scoring frames to open the contest when a two-out single by Compton scored Jace Conrad who doubled down the left field line in the Cajuns' second at bat of the game.

UL plated another two-out tally in the second inning when Nichols doubled and Sinclair followed with a single into left center.

The Cajuns continued to build their lead against Ray, tacking on two more runs in a two-out situation in the third inning to push the lead to 4-0.

Ray retired Conrad and Butler on fly outs to the outfield to start the frame. Compton jumpstarted the rally with a triple into the left center gap, then a Girouard double scored him. After a walk issued to Bourque prolonged the inning, Frederick shoved a single through the left side to plate Girouard.

Nicholson retired the Trojans' leadoff batter in four of the first five innings, a key to posting zeros during that stretch. A double play ball erased a Collins leadoff single in the second inning.

After ending the Cajuns two-out rally in the third inning with a Bourque ground out with runners on second and third, Ray tossed scoreless frames in the fourth and fifth inning to keep his team's deficit at four runs.

The Trojans kept the top of the sixth inning alive when Shear delivered an infield single deep in the hole at shortstop with two outs. He joined Nixon (leadoff hit by pitch) on the basepath and Collins brought both of them home with a home run over the left field wall that cut the UL lead to 4-3.

BASES NOTED: The win marked the Cajuns first Friday night triumph since posting a 9-2 win over Arkansas State on Friday, March 23 at “The Tigue”…Louisiana also assured the 17^th consecutive winning season at “The Tigue” with the win, improving to 14-8 at the facility this season…Head coach Tony Robichaux moved within eight wins of 900 career wins (presently 892-609-1 in his 26^th season as a Division I head coach)…The Cajuns have now played 17 one-run games (9-8 record)… One of the most prolific outfielders in the history of the Ragin' Cajuns baseball program, John Coker, is visiting this weekend, making his first return trip to M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field since his playing days (2004-05)…Coker recently served in the armed forces in Afghanistan and in September 2011, was seriously wounded in a skirmish that left three of his comrades dead…He threw out the ceremonial first pitch…Coker is presently enlisted as a specialist in the U.S. Army National Guard soon to be promoted to sergeant in the 45th infantry brigade…Dylan Butler's RBI ground out in the sixth inning marked his 40^th of the season, making him the first freshman since Les Smith (41 RBI) in 2009 to tally 40 RBI in a season…Tyler Girouard and Daniel Nichols extended their season-best hitting streaks to seven games…Dylan Butler (eight games) and Brian Bowman (six games) had hitting streaks snapped…The Cajuns improved to 12-4 all-time vs. Troy at “The Tigue”…Louisiana stands one win away from posting a Sun Belt series victory over Troy for the sixth time in seven seasons since the Trojans joined the league in 2006…Cajuns pitching made it 28 straight games of holding the opposition to single digits since surrendering 11 to Southern Miss on March 11…UL's pitching staff has held the opposition to single digits in 43 of 44 games this season.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Hicks Holds Troy in Extras, Compton's Squeeze Bunt Lands Win

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